Parrots are unique because they use their beak and legs when climbing, which makes them the only animal with three functional limbs © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Humans have had an extraordinarily long fascination with the triskelion motif, whose name is derived from the Greek and…

DNA technology reveals that Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest living relative to now-extinct varieties of herding dogs of Victorian era Britain © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Looking rather like a sheep itself, the floofy Patagonian sheepdog is rare (only several hundred are alive today), and it…

When the only image available of your species is a painting, that’s a really big clue that the species is extinct © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter They were nomadic. Shy. They slipped quietly through the skies over seemingly endless tropical forests, their lives devoted to travelling…

Birds that eat seeds are more sociable than birds that eat insects — a trait that appears to influence social evolution in many animals © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter There are 118 species of weaverbirds (family: Ploceidae) and most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. These…

The long-held idea that birds living in the tropics are more colorful than those living closer to the poles is true, suggests a recent study © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter A recently published study has confirmed an old and widely accepted idea that songbirds living in…

Mostly everyone assumes that chickens were the first bird to be domesticated. But were they? © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter It is often argued that taming wildlife and keeping them in captivity was our most consequential accomplishment because these animals provided a steady and secure source…

When just a few family lineages dominate the overall genetic diversity in small, endangered populations, these populations become highly inbred, making them vulnerable to catastrophes like disease outbreaks © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter When a family lineage produces no surviving descendants, its genetic diversity is lost…

An exquisitely preserved fossil skeleton of a long-extinct owl unearthed in the Tibetan Plateau reveals this species hunted by day, marking a dramatic shift in our understanding of owl evolution © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter A team of scientists based in China report they have found…

Parrots apparently evolved larger brain sizes so they could solve problems that might otherwise have killed them, and their braininess ended up promoting their long-term survival © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Why are parrots so long-lived? It’s an obvious question that is not well understood by…